Folding stool or chair



Dec. 1% 1923. C. J. KOENIG FOLDING STOOL OR CHAIR 2 Sheefs-Sheet 1 Filed May 19 1921 Dec, '18, 1923. 1,477,652

C. J. KOENIG FOLDING STOOL OR CHAIR Filed May 19. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dee. l8, i923. MET TTE AENT CHARLES J. KOEITIG, OF NEW BALTIMORE, MICHIGAN.

FOLDING STOOL OB CHAIR.

Application filed May 19, 1921. Serial No. 470,779.

T ll h it may Gomem; vention is hereinafter disclosed, said inven- Be it known that I, CHAnLns J. KonNIe, tion consists in the improved construction a citizen of the United States of America, and combination of parts hereinafter more residing at New Baltimore, in the county of fully described, illustrated in the accom- 60 5 Macomb and State of Michigan, have inpanying drawings, and more particularly vented certain new and useful improvements pointed out in the appended claims. in Folding tools or Chairs, of which the In the accompanying drawings, in which following is a specification, reference being similar references indicate similar parts in had therein to the accompanying drawings. each of the views,- A 65 This invention relates to improvements in Figure l is a view in elevation of one emfolding stools or chairs, pertaining more'parbodiment of the invention set up for service, ticularly to such devices in which the supparts being broken away for clearness. port and seat are adapted to be connected Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line together for use and separated when 001- 2-2 of Fig. 1. 70 lapsed under non-use conditions. Fig. 3 is an end view of the support por- The essential characteristics of a struction when collapsed. ture of this type are that when in service the Fig. 4- is a detail view showing one form of structure will not only support the weight device which may be employed to detachwithout liability of collapsing and be free ably connect the seat and support portions. 75 from liability of tilting over, but these re- Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line sults must be obtained without sacrificing 5-5 of Fig. 1. compactness when folded and by the use of Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the support a Structure that is of relatively light weight when partially opened. and readily changed from service to col Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the support so lapsed condition. when collapsed.

Various attempts have been made to secure Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view taken on these results, but in the various forms of line 88 of Fig. 7. which I am aware, one or more of these cs- The support, indicated at A, is formed sential features have been sacrificed to se with a plurality of legs a, preferably four 85 3o cure the remainder, thus setting up condiin number, each leg being formed of two tions where the seat is capable of but limit sections 15 and 16, these being secured toed use in that the parts will not sustain the gether in hinge relation, simple arrangeaverage load; or the structure is so compliment being by connecting coniplementally cated as to require extensive manipulation formed section ends by a pintle 17. The 90 or careful adjustment of parts, requiring legs are prefearably formed of1netal-aluexpertness in setting up or taking down the minuin, for instance,and the sections have stool; or the structures are such as to procrosssections such as to permit of telescopvide a comparatively large package when the ing characteristics. For instance, section 1:), stool is collapsed and arranged to be transwhich serves as the lower or foot section is as ported; or extreme rigidity will limit use formed with a longitudinal groove or recess through inability to compensate for in- 15 on its outer side between the foot 15" equalities in the surface on which the stool and its knuckle formation 15, groove 15 is placed, thus setting up conditions of tiltbeing adapted to receive the web 16 of secing; or the structure may be of such a comtion 16, the cross-section of the latter being 100 plicated character as to set up high cost of more or less T-shape, thelatcrally extendnianufacture conditions. ing portions being adapted to overlie. outer The present invention is designed to proface portions of section 15 when the support duce a structure having these essentials and is collapsed, as indicated, for instance, in which eliminates these undesirable features, Figs. 6 to 8, thus producing a leg formation 5 and at the same time provide a construction in which the sections are each of maximum which is neat and attractive in appearance, strength by reason of their cross-sections, durable in construction, simple and efficient and which can be brought into a position to in operation and which can be manufactured occupy a minimum of space. at a comparatively low cost. Sections 15 and 16 are connected together 110 To these and other ends, the nature of by a sectional link formation, indicated at which will be readily understood as the in- 18, the outer ends being pivoted to the spectivesections and to each other, the sectlous having projections to locate the pivot p'ointsoutside of the section portions winch have the telescoping relation. The link formation 18 is not designed essentially rmsupporting purposes, although, when al ned, the link sections serve this purpose to" an extent; the formation, however, does limit the extent of opening movement of "the sections soas to prevent the section 16 from collapsing inwardly when in service, thus permitting the use of a simple h nge forniation a t the point of connection of sections and 1c.

The hinge ends of sections 15 are each provided with a pair of ears 15 adapted to receive a pintle 19. said pintle being spaced from the end otthe section a greater distance than pintle 17, the ears being located tolocate" pintle 19 the inner side of the section. Pintlelserves unite the leg formation to a connecting element 20, shown as in the'form of a cross, thearn s of which are arranged in two groups, the'g'roups ditfering as to length of the arm from the point of meeting of the several arms. For in stance, arms are of less length than arms 20?, as shown in Fig. 3. As a result, the legs which are secured to these arms extend closer to the adjacent arms than do the legs secured to arms 20 A preferred arrangement in this respect is that shown in Fig. 3 in which, for instance, the legformations a: are pivoted to the cross in such way that when the lower ends are moved. outwardly, the upper or hinge ends come into contact with each other above the cross, the result being that. these upper ends thus brace each other and limit the independent outward movement of a leg; independent movement on the pintle may occur, but this would shift the position of the opposite leg, since each leg section 15' is mounted in such manner as to locate its fulcrum at an intermediate point and thus has somewhat the characteristics of a lever of the first order; outward movement of the'lower end of one of the legs would cause its opposite end to apply pressure against the short arm oi. the lever produced by the opposite leg and tend to move the longer arm inward. This arrangement, in the presence of a load applied from above might appear to set up shearing strains on pintles 19, but this is not only prevented by the ability to use pintles of comparatively large size, but in addition, opposing legs are connected by link formations 2]. which would tend to reduce the possibility! of ad ng cat nn the contrary, legs 7 are connected to the cross in such manner that when these legs are spread ,the short arm of the lever the hinge end conres into contact with the an a the a end g ends f les sid thus provides for bracing one leg formation by another leg formation, a construction which, because of the stnrdy leg to ation li i'ill ts t S p an excee ng y Strong mechanical construction adapted to support the load weight and yet, if desired, permit otsuflicient flexibility "as to allow the legs to properly seat on .un ven ground without m t ria ab ty t ilt-.-

T is r i g 15 111011 .Will be readily in-den stood from the fact that while sections 15 and 16 are hingedly connected together, the connection is only independent of the hinge connection be ween the formation (the connected sections 15 and 16) and the cross 20, butthe latter pivotal connection is below that between the sections of the formation. its a result there is atendency'to set up t-hc conditions of a lever oft-he first order in connection with section 15 when weightis placed on the seat or pressure exerted in the direction of length of section 16; the movement of section 15, however, is limited by the contact of its upper 'end with the adjacent leg structures the condition produced by the action of the cross 2()-an'd theapplications of pressure is also limited by the same means, the contacting relation between adjacent sections applying with respect vto bothsections 15 and -16 at the hinging point. 7 Hence, the possibility of shearing strains on pivotsl'? is'sulbstan tially eliminated, permitting the use of pintles or an ordinary size 'with a correspondingreduction in the size of the l1ingewithout liability of the seat or stool collapsing through breakage at the hinge connection 17, even though the weight on' the seat be comparatively large.

As will be understood, the arrangementissuch that the pivot connections for the sections ot'opposing formations, move toward each other when the stool being placed in service position, due to the fact point of hinging connection or the that the several formations with the cross-member is between the point of pivotal connection and the lower end of the section in other words, the fixed connection (the hinge connection between the lower sections andfthe cross member) isbelolw the sectionpivots in service position. In the embodiment shown the cross member is located'entirelv below a horizontal planeextending' throiigh he serefial e io pivotpoints when in serv ice position, so that in such position the formations come into actual abutting relation to set up the mutual bracing act-ion referred to. It will be understood, however, that the result would not be materially affected if a portion of the cross-member were extended between the faces shown as abutting, and hence, in employing the term abutting relation, it is intended to include not only the actual abutting relation shown, but also a relative abutting relation such as would be present if material be interposed between the faces.

The seat portion, indicated at B, is detachably connected to the free ends of sections 16 of the legs, when the latter are shifted to the open position of the leg formation. Any suitable form of seat may be employed, as may be any desired form of connection between the leg and seat. I prefer, however, to employ a structure along the lines of that illustrated in the drawings in which the free ends of the sections 16 are shown as formed T-shaped, the laterally-extending portions being of curved contour, the whole forming a T-head which is adapted'to be received within a keeper 23, such as shown, for instance, in Fig. l, this being secured to the under face of the seat B, shown, in this instance, as of leather, the four keepers being properly positioned to be engaged by the four sections 16 when the latter are in position; since the entrance of the head into the keeper is outwardly, the keepers are positioned to permit this movement, resulting in the seat having a more or less amount of slack intermediate the points of connection and therefore better able to conform to the portion of the body of the user resting upon the seat.

hile not essential, I prefer to connect opposite portions of the seat edge below the plane of the keepers, as for instance by straps 24, these extending along edges, but preferably diagonally beneath the seat, these preventing any possibility of the movement of sections 16 to closed position while the seat is in use. If desired, the straps 2a may be omitted and the sections connected by disengageable connections, this differing from that shown only that the connections would be carried by the support instead of the seat.

Since the support can be folded into small compass, the seat can be used as an element to wrap up the support, the straps retaining the wrapped condition, the entire package being compact and of a form such that. if desired, a large number can be packed within a container and readily transported, thus making the construction one adapted for the use of undertaker-s, caterers, etc, where it is necessary to provide a temporary seating condition and where it becomes necessary to transport a considerable number of structures for use in this connection.

\Vhile I have herein shown and described a preferred arrangement and construction, it will be readily understood that changes or modifications therein may be found necessary or desirable to meet the exigencies of use, and I desire to be understood as reserving the right to make any and all such changes or modifications as may be found desirable or essential in so far as the same may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the accompanying claims, when broadly construed.

Having thus described my invention, what 1 claim as new is:

1. In folding stools or chairs, wherein the seat and seat support are in the form of independent units adapted conibinedly to produce the service condition of the stool or chair and are separable to permit folding, a seat support unit including a plurality of sectional leg formations, the sections of each formation being pivotally connected adjacent an end of one of the sections, and an element hingedly connected to the several formations, the hinge connections of the several formations and the element being spaced from the pivot connections of the sections of a formation and located relative to such pivot points as to place the hinge connection below the pivot connection when the support is in service position to cause the pivot points of opposite formations to tend to approach each other to set up a bracing relation between the formations to maintain the support in such service condition.

2. In folding stools or chairs, wherein the seat and seat support are in the form of independent units adapted combinedly to produce the service condition of the stool or chair and are separable to permit foldin a seat support unit including a plurality of sectional leg formations, the sections of? each formation being pivotally connected adjacent an end of one of the sections, and an element hingedly connected to the several forn'iations, the hinging connection with each formation being limited to but one of the sections of the formation and having the point of hinging connection spaced from the point of pivot connection of the sections of the formation with the location such as to place the hinging conne on below the pivot connection when the support is in servicecondition, the relative locations of the pivot and hinging connections being substantially similar with each forn'latioii and operative to tend. to cause the pirot connections of opposing forn'iations to approach each other when the support is in service condition.

3. A seat support unit as in claim 2 characterized in that the connecting element is positioned to'permit contact of the pivot connecting portion of one formation with the similar portion of another formation independent units adapted combinedly to produce the. service condition'of the stool or chair and. are separable to permit fold ing, a seat support unit including a plurality of sectional leg formations, the sect-ions of each formation being pivotally connected adjacent an end of one of the sections, an element hingedly connected to each of such formationswith the element" having a con figuration to locate alternate formations-in opposed relation in the assembly, the element being positioned relative to the pivotally-connected ends of the sections of the formations-topermit a' section of one formation at such pivot point to contact the similar section of another formation. above such element and provide an abuttingrelation between formations when the unit is in service condition.

5. A unit as in claim t characterized in that the element is of cross-form configuration and located below a horizontal plane through the pivot connections when the assembly is in service position.

6. A unit as in claim 4- characterized in that the element is-of general cross configu ration with an arm of the cross differing in length to that of an adjacent arm;

7. A unit as in claim 4 characterized in that the points of hinging connection are so located that two of the sections will pass into contacting relation with each other and an adjacent section will pass into contact with such cont-acting sections.

8. A unit as in claim l characterized in that the points of hinging connection are so located as to permit movement of alter n'ate sections in the same plane to produce two pairs of opposing formations, the sections of one pair passing into direct contact by such movement, the sections of the other pair passing into contact with the sections of the first pair.

9. A leg formation for folding stool or chair units comprising a pair of sections hingedly connected at an end of each; section, one of saidsections carrying afoot,

the other section having its free end carry-- inga configuration operative to .ecure seat 1111K) thereto when-the stoolis assembled,

said foot sectionhaving apertured ears eel-- jacent and spaced from itshinging end to permit attachment to an element adapted to connect plurality of formationsin assembly relation to locate such element intermediate the pivot of the'hinged end and the foot of the section, said foot section being substantially U-shape in cross-section to provide a longitudinal recess therein, the other section being substantially T-shape in cross-section to provide a portion enter ing the recess of the foot section and nortions overlying a" faceof the footsection, whereby thelleg formation, in collapsed form will present a formation of angular contour in cross-section with a plurality of the contour faces provided by each of the sections.

10. A leg formation as in claim 9 char" acterized in that the free end of the T-shaped section is formed with a T-headadapted to detachablv engage a formation carriedby the seat and complemental to such head to provide therewith the sole. connection be-- tween head and seat.

11. In folding stoolsor chairs, a seat supporting unit con'iprising a plurality of foldable leg formations connected to permit the formations to move between foldedand'service positions with each formation formed of a pair of sections pivotally connected and with the connections betweenthe several formations located relative to the pivot connections of the formation sections to produce an abutting relationship between formations, and a seat unit of non-rigid forma tion, said seat unit and similar sections of the leg formations having means for detachable engagei ent therebetween when the support unit is in service position, said seat unit having straps operative, to maintain the leg sections against movement toward folded position when the seat is in position.

In testimony whereof I my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES J.- KGENIG.

Witnesses ANNA M. Donn, HORACE Gr. Snrrz.

complemental- 

